This all refers to the same meaning, as the Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: O Allah! You are the First, and there is nothing before You… Īl-Awwal Himself says. Al-Awwal deserves to be the first since He existed when there was nothing before or with Him! The firstness of Allah Al-Awwal means: the One Whose existence has no beginning and Who existed before everything without a limit (of beginning).
Linguistically al-awwal means the one who advances or precedes others. Examples of these forms are al-oolaa (“the first”), yaa ulee (“Oh men”), aali (“family, people”), al-awaleena (“the forefathers”) and taweelih (“interpretation”). This root appears 170 times in the Quran in four derived forms. The first meaning is to be first or to be before, the second meaning is to come back to or to return, and the third main meaning is to be foremost. There is none prior to Him He is self-existent, all comes from Him, and He is the cause of all that became! The First One, The Foremost, The Pre-existingĪwwal comes from the root hamza-waw-laam, which points to three main meanings. Al-Awwal is the one who neither has a beginning nor an end. Allah calls Himself Al-Awwal- The First- once in the Quran.
